The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

4. Lost in trivia.
You feel overwhelmed by the complexity of your
work. You feel the need to be on top of all the details and global trends
so you can control things better, but you are drowning in information.
It is hard to see the proverbial forest for the trees. This is a sure sign
that you have lost a sense of your priorities—which facts are more
important, what problems or details require more attention.
The icon for this syndrome would have to be King Philip II of Spain
(1527–1598). He had a prodigious appetite for paperwork and for
keeping on top of all facets of the Spanish government. This gave him a
feeling of being in control, but in fact in the end it made him lose
control. He fussed over the placement of toilets in his new palace at
Escorial and their precise distance from the kitchen; he spent days
deliberating on how exactly particular members of the clergy should be
addressed and remunerated. But sometimes he would fail to pay
proper attention to important reports on spies and national security

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issues. Poring over endless reports on the state of the Turkish army, he
believed it showed signs of great weakness and decided to launch a war
against the Turks. Somehow he had misjudged. The war would last
eighteen years, have no definitive resolution, and bleed Spain of
money.
A similar process occurred in relation to England. The king had to
read every single report on the state of the English navy, the support of
the people for Queen Elizabeth, every minute detail about the country’s
finances and shoreline defenses. Based on years of such study, in 1588
he decided to launch his armada against England, feeling certain that,
having made the armada large enough, Spain would prevail. But he
failed to pay enough attention to weather reports, the most critical
factor of all—for storms at sea would spell the destruction of the
armada. He also failed to realize that by the time he had compiled and
assimilated enough information on the Turks or on England, the
situation had actually changed. So while he seemed extremely detail
oriented, he was never quite on top of anything. Over the years Philip
strained his mind with so much reading that he had frequent
headaches and dizzy spells. His thinking was definitely impaired, and
he made decisions that ended up leading directly to the irreversible
decline of the Spanish empire.
In some ways you are probably more like King Philip II than you
would like to imagine. In your life you are more than likely paying
attention to some details that seem immediately important to you,
while ignoring the weather reports that will doom your project. Like
Philip, you tend to take in information without considering your
priorities, what really matters in the end. But the brain has its limits.
Assimilating too much information leads to mental fatigue, confusion,
and feelings of helplessness. Everything begins to seem equally
important—the placement of toilets and a possible war with the Turks.
What you need is a mental filtering system based on a scale of
priorities and your long-term goals. Knowing what you want to
accomplish in the end will help you weed out the essential from the
nonessential. You do not have to know all the details. Sometimes you
need to delegate—let your subordinates handle the information
gathering. Remember that greater control over events will come from
realistic assessments of the situation, precisely what is made most
difficult by a brain submerged in trivia.

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